


Dreams are not Just a Vision

by love_in_the_stars



Series: Your Regularly Scheduled Jarvis [3]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: M/M, Steve and Jarvis make this better, Tony Has Issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-04
Updated: 2012-04-04
Packaged: 2017-11-03 00:44:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,538
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/375174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/love_in_the_stars/pseuds/love_in_the_stars
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark knows a lot of things, that doesn't mean he's always right. But that's okay, when it comes to this, he doesn't mind being wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dreams are not Just a Vision

**Author's Note:**

> The final phase of Steve and Jarvis' relationship, as seen from Tony's POV.
> 
> Thanks to Zekkass for the awesome job beta-ing and for listening to me babble about this before I ever wrote a word, even though it turned out a bit different.

Tony Stark had no illusions about the kind of person he was. He knew he was a terrible one. He had a grand total of three friends, two of which he paid for and one of which barely tolerated him and at the high end of thirty that was just sad. He knew how he was a terrible person too.  
  
Tony Stark was a narcissistic, sarcastic asshole who loved his machines more than he did living people. He had no brain-to-mouth filter and usually didn’t care if his words hurt anyone, it just wasn’t his problem. If they got offended and insisted on making an issue about it then he threw money at them until they went away. Actually, that was how he solved most of his problems.  
  
So, yeah, Tony knew he had problems and he knew what those problems were. That didn’t mean he knew how to fix them or even if he wanted to. Maybe he was just meant to be like this. Maybe this was just the life that Tony Stark deserved.  
  
At least with the Iron Man he got to be a hero, even if it felt a bit like a little boy wearing his father’s business shoes to play pretend. Not that Tony Stark ever played pretend, business or otherwise. He was too busy taking apart kitchen appliances and cobbling them together to make the toys he prefered to play with as opposed to the things his nursemaids bought him when he was a child.  
  
Although, that victory didn’t last long, not with the formation of the Avengers not too long after his latest ‘showdown’. It was hard to feel too much like a real hero when surrounded by  _real_ heroes. Serious heroes who had the heart of gold to match and ideals that never stopped fighting.  
  
Honestly,  _Captain freaking America_.  
  
What did Tony Stark have to counter that? Nothing that’s what. No, less than nothing. Iron Man couldn’t keep pace with a man that good so what shot in the dark did Tony have?  
  
Tony Stark was the ex-arms dealer who had the lost lives of more than he could ever hope to name hanging over him and something like that didn’t just go away. Not ever. Captain America took down people like him and made them pay for their crimes.  
  
Now they were working together on the same team. It was utterly surreal. Surreal and...well...everything Tony could have ever imagined. No, better because Tony would never have dared to  dream of something like this. He may have entertained a few fleeting thoughts as a child of being like Captain America but, seriously, he’d lost those before puberty.  
  
Tony Stark was a lonely billionaire playboy who had everything he could ever want but nothing that he really needed and that was just how things were.  
  
Well, that was how thing were before, not so much now.   
  
Now he had a whole team of people who, if not understood his flaws at least acknowledged them and didn’t let them get too much in the way. For the first time ever he had an actual group of people would would fight for him, in battle and out.  
  
And for as much as Tony loved and valued Pepper, Rhodey and Happy...the Avengers just fitted into his life like they were exactly what he’d been missing.   
  
That’s not to say the whole experience had been easy because it was far from that. Tony didn’t get along with any of them for a while but eventually they all got it figured out. Teams were made of personal and professional dynamics and if one suffered so too did the other. Luckily they were surprisingly suited as a team (and that was something that honestly did make Tony wonder what exactly his life was).  
  
The only hang up the team suffered lasted only a short time because, as expected, it was Tony’s. More specifically it was Tony’s issue with Captain America. He just could not get over the differences between them.  
  
The Captain was good in every way and every time he did or said something...well,  _good_ ...Tony couldn’t help the anxiety that crowded his mind. And when that happened he tended to either say assholeish things or babble on about stupid things that ended up making no sense to anyone, including himself. It was a reaction Tony couldn’t control because ‘inferior’ didn’t begin to cover how he felt standing next to the war hero.   
  
Eventually though, the Captain's goodness actually seemed to soak into Tony like some weird form of osmosis. Or maybe it was just that Captain America seemed to understand things about Tony Stark that Tony didn’t recall giving away. Whatever it was, the Captain actually seemed to start to  like  Tony. Which was terrifying because one of the many things Tony Stark was did not include likable.   
  
Then again, maybe that was just one of the Captain’s secret powers. The ability to like anyone (who wasn’t a villain anyway).  
  
Regardless, everyone (who wasn’t a villain and even a few who were) liked Captain America and the good Captain liked everyone who liked him. Even non-humans liked him.  
  
 _Even Jarvis liked Captain America._  
  
Which okay, good, just goes to show his creations truly were amazing.  
  
The most amazing thing of all though, the thing that really blew Tony Stark’s mind, wasn’t how intricately good the Captain was. It was how good the Captain saw  _him_.  
  
 _Captain America liked Tony Stark._  
  
He hadn’t thought something like that to be possible but the man had said as much one night after going so far as to bring him a dinner of his favorite food. A dinner home cooked, not called through take out or made electronically by Jarvis.  
  
The man had then proceeded to tell Tony, point blank,  _“I like you.”_  
  
Naturally he hadn’t quite believed it. He hadn’t believed it and misunderstood. Because the idea of Captain America liking him was insane enough without the thought that the Captain liked him liked him. As in wanted to sleep with him and hold his hand and  _go on dates._  
  
Though to be fair, Tony felt his confusion to be perfectly acceptable. This was  Captain America  after all and he was nothing more than Tony Stark. Not to mention Tony Stark wasn’t exactly the greatest person in the world if you were to ask practically anyone else. In fact even Tony could admit this, if only to himself.  
  
Captain America, no, Steve Rogers, didn’t seem to mind that though.   
  
Tony might not have understood but he wasn’t quite self-hateful enough to argue, not too much anyway. Steve liked him, Tony liked Steve. Elementary, right?  
  
Right.   
  
Besides, Jarvis may have mentioned to him that Steve had asked the AI especially about Tony’s favorite food. The idea that his ever reliable AI and his, God,  _his boyfriend_ , working together was something just amazing. Something that made his chest area warm in a way that didn’t involve the arc reactor.   
  
So when Tony stumbled on the scene of Steve diligently working with the remote with Jarvis giving calm and clear instructions, he’d stopped short at the doorway to watch the interaction.  
  
“The guide is what gives me the whole selection to look at right?”  
  
“Yes, sir.”  
  
“Right.”  
  
Squinting down at the oversized and over-buttoned controller, Steve poked carefully at it, the TV changing according to his actions. Jarvis answered every one of Steve’s questions and supplied information seemingly at random.  
  
After a few minutes it occurred to Tony that the reason for this was that Jarvis seemed to be anticipating Steve’s areas of uncertainty. Which implied to Tony that they’ve worked together like this before. More often then arranging dinner plans anyway. Curious and so  pleased by their getting along, Tony stepped into the room, stopping just behind Steve on the sofa.  
  
“What’s going on here?” He asked.  
  
Steve turned to look at him sheepishly, grinning in that all American golden boy way. It made little old ladies and Tony feel their hearts flutter every time.  
  
“Ah, Tony! I just, um. Jarvis was telling me how to channel surf?” Steve said, a bit uncertainly of the phrase.  
  
Channel surfing. Steve Rogers was sitting on his sofa learning how to channel surf from  his  AI. That was just too adorable.  
  
Tony smiled, unreserved, and Steve’s grin widened too. Shaking his head, Tony jumped the back of the couch to land at his boyfriend’s side. “Alright then, show me what you’ve learned, Superboy.”  
  
Leaning into Steve’s comfortably warm side, Tony listened as Steve gave the rundown of remote functions Tony already knew, Jarvis stepping in occasionally to gently correct any error or misunderstood button.  
  
This. This right here, this moment of just him, the man he loved and the greatest being he’d ever created that grew to love him in return, was perfect. It was every dream Tony had never dared to dream and ended up achieving anyway.   
  
It wasn’t so bad, being Tony Stark, so long as he had this to hold onto. And luckily, he had the feeling that Jarvis and Steve planned to do whatever it took to ensure this was something he would always have. 


End file.
